In the depths of World War II, Swedish authorities decided their citizens needed to know what to do if the fighting finally arrived on their doorstep. Though they maintained neutrality, it was hard to believe they could continue to do so — especially as, one by one, their Nordic neighbors got caught in the tides of violence.

So they decided on a handy pamphlet, delivered to households across Sweden. Roughly translated to "If War Comes," the pamphlets offered tips for how to interpret sirens and what to take along in the case of evacuation.

The pamphlets didn't end with the war. For more than four decades, Sweden distributed these little bits of instruction on catastrophe — until, that is, the end of the Cold War seemed to diminish their usefulness and they were discontinued.

Now, Sweden is bringing them back.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is organizing a reboot of the pamphlet, this time augmenting its advice on conventional warfare with tips on how to grapple with threats of this era: terrorism and cyberattacks, pandemics, misinformation campaigns and crises related to climate change.

The agency expects to deliver these pamphlets to 4.7 million Swedish households beginning in late May.

"Back then the focus was only on war; today society looks totally different. There are considerably more complex threats," Christina Andersson, spokeswoman for the Civil Contingencies Agency, told Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper. "People need to learn more and know more about how to handle it."

In comments quoted by The Associated Press, Andersson added that the decision to revive the pamphlet after all this time was inspired by the "current security situation" around the Baltic Sea, referring to recent Russian movements in the region.

This is far from the first move recently undertaken because of such concerns.

Sweden, which remains officially neutral, staged a massive collaborative military exercise with NATO powers last fall on Gotland, a large island just off the country's southeastern coast where it has begun to garrison troops in recent years. The weeks-long drills included troops from the U.S., France and Denmark, as well as non-NATO neighbor Finland.

The exercise arose from worries about "a new security environment in this part of Europe with the annexation of Crimea (by Russia), war in Ukraine and pressure on Baltics," Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told Britain's Sky News during the drills.

Hultqvist cited similar reasons last year when the country declared it would be bringing back military conscription. The draft had been discontinued since 2010, but as troop levels declined, and Swedish authorities observed more Russian "exercise activities in our neighborhood," Hultqvist said, "we have decided to build a stronger national defense."

And should that defense fail in a time of hypothetical crisis, Swedes will find advice in their soon-to-be delivered pamphlets — which have the same guiding principle they have always had, Andersson said.

"When society is experiencing severe disruptions, or is being completely interrupted, people have the responsibility to handle their own and their nearest relatives' fundamental needs for a while."

NPR's Liana Simonds contributed to this report.

As we all know, the last quoted sentence, cannot be emphasized enough.

In the depths of World War II, Swedish authorities decided their citizens needed to know what to do if the fighting finally arrived on their doorstep. Though they maintained neutrality, it was hard to believe they could continue to do so — especially as, one by one, their Nordic neighbors got caught in the tides of violence.

So they decided on a handy pamphlet, delivered to households across Sweden. Roughly translated to "If War Comes," the pamphlets offered tips for how to interpret sirens and what to take along in the case of evacuation.

The pamphlets didn't end with the war. For more than four decades, Sweden distributed these little bits of instruction on catastrophe — until, that is, the end of the Cold War seemed to diminish their usefulness and they were discontinued.

Now, Sweden is bringing them back.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is organizing a reboot of the pamphlet, this time augmenting its advice on conventional warfare with tips on how to grapple with threats of this era: terrorism and cyberattacks, pandemics, misinformation campaigns and crises related to climate change.

The agency expects to deliver these pamphlets to 4.7 million Swedish households beginning in late May.

"Back then the focus was only on war; today society looks totally different. There are considerably more complex threats," Christina Andersson, spokeswoman for the Civil Contingencies Agency, told Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper. "People need to learn more and know more about how to handle it."

In comments quoted by The Associated Press, Andersson added that the decision to revive the pamphlet after all this time was inspired by the "current security situation" around the Baltic Sea, referring to recent Russian movements in the region.

This is far from the first move recently undertaken because of such concerns.

Sweden, which remains officially neutral, staged a massive collaborative military exercise with NATO powers last fall on Gotland, a large island just off the country's southeastern coast where it has begun to garrison troops in recent years. The weeks-long drills included troops from the U.S., France and Denmark, as well as non-NATO neighbor Finland.

The exercise arose from worries about "a new security environment in this part of Europe with the annexation of Crimea (by Russia), war in Ukraine and pressure on Baltics," Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told Britain's Sky News during the drills.

Hultqvist cited similar reasons last year when the country declared it would be bringing back military conscription. The draft had been discontinued since 2010, but as troop levels declined, and Swedish authorities observed more Russian "exercise activities in our neighborhood," Hultqvist said, "we have decided to build a stronger national defense."

And should that defense fail in a time of hypothetical crisis, Swedes will find advice in their soon-to-be delivered pamphlets — which have the same guiding principle they have always had, Andersson said.

"When society is experiencing severe disruptions, or is being completely interrupted, people have the responsibility to handle their own and their nearest relatives' fundamental needs for a while."

NPR's Liana Simonds contributed to this report.

As we all know, the last quoted sentence, cannot be emphasized enough.

Not trying to get political. I guess it was a pretty good idea for the populace, however, the Swedes unlike the Norwegians and Finns(both on different sides of the spectrum) actively played both sides. They sold ball bearings to Britain and Iron Ore to Germany. They ran smuggling power boats to Britain while letting the Germans use their rail lines as if they were German. They were gonna come out on top regardless of convictions. They also bought American(allied) and Italian(axis) attack planes at the same time. Winston Churchill had to be convinced by his own staff not to label them war profiteers. So, the cynical side of me says these fliers were just for show. This brings us to today where my cynical side says the same thing.

majorhavoc wrote:Some truths are just universal, like the enduring importance of having a "go" bag. Or perhaps "what is old, is new again."

I'd love to see an English-translated version of this pamphlet. From any year.

I used Google translate to translate the verbiage on the pictures. The information on the first basically says bring warm clothing, money and stay together. The second is apparently a description of the clothes like shoes, etc.

The translation was likely incomplete but I think the pictures say it all for each page.

The Twizzler wrote:Not trying to get political. I guess it was a pretty good idea for the populace, however, the Swedes unlike the Norwegians and Finns(both on different sides of the spectrum) actively played both sides. They sold ball bearings to Britain and Iron Ore to Germany. They ran smuggling power boats to Britain while letting the Germans use their rail lines as if they were German. They were gonna come out on top regardless of convictions. They also bought American(allied) and Italian(axis) attack planes at the same time. Winston Churchill had to be convinced by his own staff not to label them war profiteers. So, the cynical side of me says these fliers were just for show. This brings us to today where my cynical side says the same thing.

Interesting historical perspective; thank you for that. Doesn't change the fact that the general population was at risk to suffer the consequences of their leaders' miscalculations. Again, not to get political. Only the observation that shit generally flows downhill and when things get bad, it's usually up to the citizenry to figure out how to persevere.

The Twizzler wrote:Not trying to get political. I guess it was a pretty good idea for the populace, however, the Swedes unlike the Norwegians and Finns(both on different sides of the spectrum) actively played both sides. They sold ball bearings to Britain and Iron Ore to Germany. They ran smuggling power boats to Britain while letting the Germans use their rail lines as if they were German. They were gonna come out on top regardless of convictions. They also bought American(allied) and Italian(axis) attack planes at the same time. Winston Churchill had to be convinced by his own staff not to label them war profiteers. So, the cynical side of me says these fliers were just for show. This brings us to today where my cynical side says the same thing.

I don't think "survival" was a forgone conclusion. I think if Germany had won Sweden would have got eaten up. After all, elbow room needs a good Swedish meatball recipe.

I have no argument against "profiteering." I do believe they thought their survival was at stake, and I believe that thinking was correct. Also, if one is building a military quickly to ready for an invasion, it pays to not make enemies too early and buy as many guns and planes as possible from whoever is selling.

Just my thoughts.

It's like in Risk when you turtle up and don't invade the big power, you just hoard your 3 pieces per turn to make yourself a more difficult target while hoping the bigger players will take them out for you. And knowing you may have to be a part of the coalition taking on the Big Threat.

*Remember: I'm just a guy on the internet
*Don't go to stupid places with stupid people & do stupid things.
*Be courteous. Look normal. Be in bed by 10'clock.

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” -Bilbo Baggins.